Student Newsletter Committee (Vijay Patel): Student newsletter will be published in fall. Contributions for articles will be solicited beginning in the September.

Student Health Advisory Group (Derek Musashe): During last month’s meetings, it was brought up that there is student loans cover the health care insurance premiums over the summer. The timing of end of the summer term and the beginning of the fall term for almost all schools allows students to have coverage even though there may be a summer break. On a related issue, this may not cover costs of summer break housing and non-tuition related expenses for some schools.

Student Center Planning Committee (Jesse Hollander & Charlie Muraki):

The Student Center is now open on Saturdays from 9am-5pm. We should all try and get more people here during these hours to continue support to keep it open on the weekend. Food service on Saturdays will open on 9/25/10. Hours to be announced.

Jesse and Charlie met with Steve, head of Nutrition Services, regarding serving alcohol at the Student Center, with a permit to serve all the time. This seems less likely for two reasons. 1) OHSU is hesitant with health services and health providers on the same campus and providing the mission of healthcare in a safe and legal setting. 2) It is expensive to have an OLCC permit for a member’s only venue for just a monthly permit. Another option is a monthly event and/or contract with catering company to have a liquor license at certain times. Having a public bar versus a members only venue was discussed. Revenue generation is a potential benefit to serving alcohol at the student center in any capacity. Ideas proposed were kegs, wine tastings, and having it open to families.

One consideration mentioned is to be sure we are using incidental fees for the benefit of a significant portion of the student body. If this only appeals to a small subset of students, it becomes more difficult to justify requiring every student to pay these dollars in required incidental fees.

One concern re: the serving of alcohol is a potential safety issue with the swimming pool. The pool may be closed or a security watch may be placed on it during the hours that alcohol is served.

March Wellness (Joan Feraco):

To ensure students are aware of March Wellness and the services offered, they’ve prepared some paper stuffs for school orientations. Most schools have responded, except the SOM.

Nursing students have been asked to pay community prices over the summer. SOP (pharmacy) still without access during fourth year, although there is talk of allowing them to pay for the months they rotate here. It is unclear if medical students have access through incidental fees during the summer between 1st and 2nd year. UPDATE: Fourth year pharmacy students may pay for the months they are located in Portland. Monthly dues are $65. Nursing students do not pay community prices ($102). If they pay incidental fees, they have full access. I think the issues lie with March membership for nursing students who are on a schedule different from other schools (e.g. not full-time over the summer, not considered to be in school although required to take classes, term dates are scheduled differently, etc.). They are being asked to pay community prices over the summer. (Is this appropriate? Are they paying incidental fees year-round?) Medical students between their first and second years have access if paying incidental fees. If not, monthly dues are $65 for July and $65 for August.

March will now offer residents a reduced-fee membership. UPDATE: Residents will not be charged monthly dues when they are assigned to other locations. Residents must inform March Wellness 1 month prior to a location change. (Given their schedules are likely similar to fourth year pharmacy schedules in the number of on-hill vs. off-hill rotations, what are thoughts on managing them similarly vs. differently?)

Obviously March membership fees are not competitive with community gym membership fees. There is a question of what students’ and/or residents’ needs are in a fitness center. (Not brought up at the meeting: is it possible to offer students, and/or residents, and/or the public at-large the option of paying the price for full-membership versus an alternative lower fee for a limited membership, either just access to gym facilities, vs. facilities + classes, vs. facilities + classes + spa services, etc.?)

Library (Laura Zeigan):

Not present

Community Service Fair Discussion (Katie Yates):

This will be the 5th Annual Community Service Fair

Thursday, October 7th, at the Student Center

She has lots of organizations lined up to invite, and welcomes suggestions for any we left out.

School representative reports (skipped in the interest of time)

Medical:

Dental:

Pharmacy:

GSO:

Nursing:

PA:

Allied Health:

New Business (30 minutes)

Budget review (Charlie Muraki):

Our student council budget comes from incidental fees (IF’s), and we currently don’t spend all the IF’s each year. Charlie met with Dr. Robert Vieira, Interim Provost, to discuss where the rest of this money goes, and if it is still accessible. Evidently, any left-over fees go into a ‘reserve’ fund.

It is still unclear if these funds sit in an account, or if they are spent, and then credited to the Student Council budget. (The implication is: if we choose to spend it all right now, are those funds immediately available?)

The response from Dr. Vieira is they can be used for special expenditures, e.g. funding projects at the Student Center. It does not, however, just roll over to the following year’s student council budget. Dr. Vieira will report back on the status of these funds.

The next issue raised is if there are always leftover funds, how much of them do we want in the reserve fund, and do we want/can we cut IFs for students?

We have already requested and been granted a regular budget report. However, they have recently hired a new person whose job description is appropriate for this, so once he/she gets acclimated to the job, we can expect a regular budget report within the next couple months.

There is also discussion about and preference for the ability to manage an annual budget, as opposed to being given a partial budget per term. This is especially pertinent in light of the prevalence of student body events in the latter half of the academic year. (E.g. Cover The Uninsured Week, Student Policy Workshop, and Volunteer Banquet.)

Voter Registration (not addressed)

Suzy & Sarah (Legislature & OHSU Business & Ops)

Rae is meeting with Sarah on Tuesday, 8/17, to discuss student preferences and priorities for the short-term future of OHSU and business and operations strategies. Please ask your fellow students to share their ideas so she can represent them at this meeting.

Rae is also meeting with Suzy Funkhouser, OHSU’s lobbyist to the State Legislature, on Wednesday, 9/8. If you have issues you would like her to represent at that meeting, please let her know. The purpose of this meeting is three-fold: to form a working relationship with the Student Council, to do the same for the Health Policy Interest Group, and to ask about personal interests about public health. The goal for discussing Student Council with her is to set up what our relationship can be and what resources we can access; essentially, how to bring students and student interests closer to Salem and effecting state policy.